Tulsa Neighborhood Street Used To Be Airport Runway

Urbana Avenue, from 61st Street, is the widest street in the neighborhood.

That's because before it was a street it was the main runway at the Commercial Airport, also known as Cherokee Airport.

Kim Jones at the Air and Space Museum said Tulsa used to have lots of little airports. After World War II, the city had quite a love affair with aviation.

As the city grew toward the south and east, so did the airports spread.

"You know, people would complain, ‘We don't want your planes landing over our houses, so they'd move them on out,'" Jones said.

When the city moved south around 61st and Yale, the Commercial Airport became the neighborhood west of LaFortune Park.

When the airport moved out, the city kept the concrete strip that was once the runway and turned it into a street.

Marvin Sullenger, Jr. produced a short film called Tulsa Takes To the Air that features some of these small airports. The film can be viewed now at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.